Perutyrannus
| image = Isolated-incomplete-theropod-right-tibia-LO-12095t-from-the-Kristianstad-Basin-in-a.png | image_caption = Holotype tibia seen from different angles | image_width = 230px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Sauropsida | superordo = Dinosauria | ordo = Saurischia | subordo = Theropoda | infraordo = Neotheropoda | familia = Dilophosauridae? | genus = Perutyrannus | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * P. incana Oococolese, 2016(type) | synonyms = *''Caracasvenator peruvia'' von Huene, 1923 *''Caracasvenator peruvia germanicus'' von Huene, 1923 *''Caracasvenator deltatylus'' Sereno et al., 1995 vide Malkhani, 2004 }} Perutyrannus ("tyrant of Peru") is a genus of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs found in the early-late Jurassic period of Peru and France. It includes one species, Perutyrannus incana, described from a tibia, three toes and three hand claws. They were small bipedal dinosaurs, with a deduced total body length of just over 2 meters long. They were likely generalist predators, preying on smaller vertebrates like other dinosaurs or lizards. Discovery Since the late 1990s in the Peruvian state of Macachila, dinosaur fossils have been uneathed (most notably the opalised vertebra of a small, unnamed prosauropod now known as ''Macachilasaurus'') Most of these belonged to a small herbivore that in 2016 was described as Madanasaura. However, included in the discoveries was a well preserved theropod jaw, indicating a predator must have been present. There was no affirmation. In 2016, the type species Perutyrannus incana was named and described by Hannah Ococolese. The description was based on a damaged jaw bone. In 2018, a second specimen (the paratype) was rediscovered in a small museum near Caracas. The fossils, containing three toes, three claws, an incomplete maxilla with teeth and the proximal end of a femur, were discovered from several sites around the world during the 1910s and were accidentally created into a chimera of a new genus known as Caracasvenator by von Huene in 1923. Most of this material, except for the digits, were referred to other genera. The digits were found in Normandy, France in 1832 and may have belonged to ''Poekilopleuron'' or ''Megalosaurus'' Etymology The generic name was derived from that of being a "tyrant" and the country of Peru. Description Perutyrannus was a small bipedal predator. The total body length of the animal has been deduced at just over 2 meters long. Phylogeny The study describing Perutyrannus performed a cladistic analysis, establishing its probable evolutionary relationships (phylogeny) by computing an evolutionary tree assuming the least number of evolutionary changes. This analysis showed that Perutyrannus and the related ''Tachiraptor'' were basal members of the Neotheropoda, the subgroup encompassing all but the earliest theropods. It thus was placed low in the evolutionary tree of the neotheropods. Perutyrannus was part of the stem leading to the Averostra, the group all theropods belong to from the Middle Jurassic onwards, including the birds. Being a sister species of the Averostra, it was described as a "stem-averostran". This made the discovery of Tachiraptor especially important, because before 2016, there were no unequivocal stem-averostrans known at all. Perutyranus thus reduced their ghost lineage (an inferred though yet unproven line of descent) by twenty-five million years. Perutyrannus also contributed to a greater knowledge of evolution by confirming that the equatorial zone of the supercontinent Pangea played an important role in the development of early dinosaurs, as already shown by the discovery of Madanasaura. References Category:Animal Category:Chordate Category:Reptile Category:Dinosaur Category:Saurischian Category:Theropod Category:Neotheropoda Category:Jurassic dinosaurs Category:Jurassic reptiles Category:Bipedal Category:Carnivores Category:Triassic reptiles Category:Triassic Category:Triassic animals Category:Late Triassic Category:Triassic Archosaurs Category:Archosaur Category:Early and Middle Triassic Archosaurs Category:Extinct animals of South America Category:Dinosaurs of South America